Rider Interview: Our third and last exclusive Astana interview is with Andrei Grivko. He has a lot to talk about; the Astana team and the conflict in his home land of Ukraine. Andrei also has experience by the bucketful. We caught up with him at the Astana training camp in Spain.

Rider Interview: Our second exclusive Astana rider interviewee, Tanel Kangert is starting his fifth year with the team and so he is in the perfect position to give us his thoughts on the team's present situation. There are two sides to every story, but Tanel is one of the people caught in the crossfire.

Rider Interview: Rein Tamara is the first of three exclusive Astana team rider interviews. For the 2015 season Estonian rider Rein Taaramäe has left his first pro team; Cofidis after nearly eight years to join Astana. We caught up with him at the team training camp in Spain.

Dec 11, 2014 - Astana in, Europcar out! The UCI finalised the list of WorldTour teams for 2015 and after much deliberation there will be 17 teams in the top league of Cycling. We also look at the Padova Investigation, Tour '16, team & rider news and new bikes for BORA from Argon18. A full EuroTrash Thursday.

Espoir Cycliste Saint-Etienne Loire celebrated the 30th anniversary of their annual hill-climb on October 4, with more than 300 participants, including 66 young cyclists and 247 adults, competing in a timed, individual race up the 9.6km course.

Borut Božič Interview: The Classics season has started and if you are a fan of those cobbles it won’t be long before you see the name: Borut Božič in the results. The Slovenian is Astana’s man for those early hard man’s races in Belgium and Northern France and we were lucky enough to have a chat about his big love; those Northern roads of Hell!

PEZ interviewed Janez Brajkovič at the recent Astana team's pre season training camp. He's won the Dauphiné, placed top 10 at the Tour de France and has a lot to say about training, Bruyneel vs Vino, and even a few words about his ex-boss Lance Armstrong.

It’s that time of year again with lots of teams on the Costa Blanca for their first training camp of the off season. Our man in Spain, Alastair Hamilton is on the spot and spent the day on the road with Team Astana. Here is how his day panned-out with the Kazakhs.

One of the revelations of this year's Giro has been Estonian Road Race Champion, Tanel Kangert. He was the man seen most often at the side of his Capo, Giro winner, Vincenzo Nibali when the chips were down in the high mountains. He took some time out at the end of the Giro to chat to PEZ.

Just prior to the Giro's fourth stage TTT, PEZ had the chance to chill at the Astana team bus (if “chill” is the right word for such a hot, sunny day) and talk to some of the men who keep the wheels on the bus, so to speak. They don’t get on the podium and they don’t have fan clubs, but no pro team could function without guys like these...

It’s the big news today in cycling – the ASO says the Astana team will not be invited to any of their events – including the Tour de France. Given that none of the team's riders or management have been found guilty of any doping offence, nor are under investigation, and considering last year’s winner and 3rd place finisher ride for Astana, it’s a shocker. Here’s Team Astana’s official response…

“Es indecision me molesta” – as the Clash would say. Even two hours ago the A/W ds Neil Stephens had hopes they could start the race, but if one rule doesn't get ya, another will... After withdrawing 5 members of the team implicated in the Puerto affair, Astana/Wurth is left with only 4 eligible riders - and that's not enough by ASO rules.